You may have heard the news go down late last night that the Tampa Bay Lightning had acquired center Sam Gagner from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for winger Teddy Purcell. Seems simple enough, a player for a player, the salaries nearly matched, both teams are under the cap, and in some way or fashion, both players can help their new teams.

Except Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman had other moves on his mind.

Just about two hours after acquiring Gagner, Tampa Bay traded him and forward B.J. Crombeen to the Arizona Coyotes for cap space and a sixth-round pick in next year's draft. But Gagner was notified that some other things were about to go down and not to get too settled on the idea of playing for the Lightning, saying in a conference call from his home:

"It's been a roller coaster of emotions...I was talking to my agent, and he had said when Tampa traded for me that there might be something else going on. So it was something that I was prepared for. I wasn't really expecting to be traded [again] today."

For the Coyotes, they were in need of a dependable center after they bought out the contract of Mike "Still On the Bell Centre Ice Writhing In Pain" Ribeiro just a few days ago due to "some real behavioral issues that [the Coyotes] couldn't tolerate going forward," according to general manager Don Maloney. Now they have their man in Gagner, as well as another reliable winger in Crombeen going forward.

As for Tampa Bay, they still weren't done making moves, as they also traded center Nathan Thompson to the Anaheim Ducks for a fourth and seventh-round draft pick in next year's draft.

So when all the smoke cleared on the night, the Coyotes had Gagner and Crombeen, the Lightning had cap space and three more draft picks, the Ducks had Thompson, and the Oilers had Purcell and yet another joke to crack on their unfortunate souls. Way to go, Jordan Eberle!
Let the silly season officially begin.